Malaysia says it will expand water rationing in and around its capital Kuala Lumpur, in a move affecting millions as drought continues to scorch a tropical country usually synonymous with torrential rain.

The National water commission said over 300,000 households in Kuala Lumpur and nearby Selangor, will experience cuts for the whole of March, after a two-month dry spell depleted reservoirs.

Some 60,000 households in Selangor - the nation's economic hub - have already been hit by rationing since Tuesday.

According to the commission, another 50,000 premises in the southern state of Johor have also undergone rationing last week, as much of Malaysia suffers under bone-dry conditions and high temperatures.

"The hot weather and lack of rain in catchment areas have caused all reservoirs in Selangor to recede," said the commission's chairman Ismail Kasim.

Kuala Lumpur shares its water supply with Selangor, where the reserve level of dams have dipped below 50 percent.

A spokeswoman from the state's private water company said more than two million people would be affected.

Malaysia tends to experience dry weather early in the year, but the current spell has been unusually long, sparking bushfires and protests from communities whose taps have run dry.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department has warned the dry patch could last another month.

Last week, the state of Negeri Sembilan, adjacent to Selangor, declared a water crisis, mobilising to supply treated water to thousands of households.

The Malaysian economy remains reliant on agriculture - it is the world's second-largest producer of palm oil and a major exporter of rubber.

However, no alarm has been raised yet on the potential impact of the drought on upcoming harvests.

The hot spell has also contributed to more cases of dengue fever, as it speeds up the life cycle of the aedes mosquito that carries the virus and enhances replication of the pathogen.

29 people have died from the disease so far this year, nearly triple the same period last year.

It's a fundamental human yearning to be a part of something bigger than one's self, and maybe that's what drove my mate Ash to die, far from home, in a bloody foreign war against Islamic State, writes C August Elliott.